Comments on: Parasitic wasp sanitizes its victims from the inside out http://boingboing.net/2013/01/07/parasitic-wasp-sanitizes-its-v.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:52:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: awjt http://boingboing.net/2013/01/07/parasitic-wasp-sanitizes-its-v.html#comment-1622033 awjt Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:54:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=204446#comment-1622033 Gould is gold; thank you for that.  I love the Panglossian Paradigm.  Dense, nerdy, classical... but also TOTALLY worth the read.  www.jstor.org/stable/77447 Gould is gold; thank you for that.  I love the Panglossian Paradigm.  Dense, nerdy, classical… but also TOTALLY worth the read.  http://www.jstor.org/stable/77447

]]> By: WinstonSmith2012 http://boingboing.net/2013/01/07/parasitic-wasp-sanitizes-its-v.html#comment-1622018 WinstonSmith2012 Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:40:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=204446#comment-1622018 Yech!  Sounds nasty.  Worse even than brain mushrooms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8 Yech!  Sounds nasty.  Worse even than brain mushrooms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8

]]> By: voiceinthedistance http://boingboing.net/2013/01/07/parasitic-wasp-sanitizes-its-v.html#comment-1622017 voiceinthedistance Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:39:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=204446#comment-1622017 The anti-microbials aren't  to protect the roach, that's been living with the pathogens its whole life, but for the sake of the wasp larvae.  I doubt the gestation period for the wasp is particularly long, and we all know how difficult it is to kill a cockroach anyway. I found this sentence touching, at least grading on the cockroach curve:  "The cockroach is both the larva’s only food source and its cradle."  Of course, mama wasp didn't bother to ask the roach for permission. I also found the fact that someone was able to install a window on a roach every bit as impressive as the fact that they discovered the anti-microbial secretions.  Respect to the glazier! The anti-microbials aren’t  to protect the roach, that’s been living with the pathogens its whole life, but for the sake of the wasp larvae.  I doubt the gestation period for the wasp is particularly long, and we all know how difficult it is to kill a cockroach anyway.

I found this sentence touching, at least grading on the cockroach curve:  ”The cockroach is both the larva’s only food source and its cradle.”  Of course, mama wasp didn’t bother to ask the roach for permission.

I also found the fact that someone was able to install a window on a roach every bit as impressive as the fact that they discovered the anti-microbial secretions.  Respect to the glazier!

]]> By: Peter Bebergal http://boingboing.net/2013/01/07/parasitic-wasp-sanitizes-its-v.html#comment-1622014 Peter Bebergal Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:36:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=204446#comment-1622014 This kind of wasp/prey relationship was something SJ Gould saw as a deep theological problem that he could not square with belief. See his "Nonmoral Nature" here: http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_nonmoral.html This kind of wasp/prey relationship was something SJ Gould saw as a deep theological problem that he could not square with belief. See his “Nonmoral Nature” here: http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_nonmoral.html

]]> By: jaduncan http://boingboing.net/2013/01/07/parasitic-wasp-sanitizes-its-v.html#comment-1622004 jaduncan Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:30:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=204446#comment-1622004 The host is weakened by you eating it; it's very bad if the host dies due to a secondary infection and the meat you depend on goes off. Given that, excreted antibacterials seem like a sensible evolutionary adaptation. The host is weakened by you eating it; it’s very bad if the host dies due to a secondary infection and the meat you depend on goes off. Given that, excreted antibacterials seem like a sensible evolutionary adaptation.

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